Erasing and re-inscribing Chinese into Indonesian history

ABSTRACT During the New Order period (1966–1998), Chinese Indonesians or Tionghoa were systematically excluded from Indonesian accounts of history. After the fall of the regime, there was a resurgence of writing by and about Chinese Indonesians. One element of this resurgence was the translation into Indonesian of books by Western writers on the topic, but more important has been the emergence of new publications in Indonesian in which Sino-Indonesians are given a central position in major events or phenomena, such as the introduction of Islam to the Indonesian archipelago. The New Order’s exclusion of Sino-Indonesians has been transformed into an inclusive narrative. Significantly, Indonesians who are not of Chinese background have played an important role in bringing about this historical resurgence. These changes represent a major shift in the way the Indonesian nation is being defined.